The Book Thief Rudy Analysis

Rudy is the sole main character to ever exist that has unlikeable traits. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel is living with a foster family during World War II in Germany. Before this, she stole The Grave Digger's Handbook, but her foster father discovered it when she arrived, and he taught her to read. Rudy is Liesel's best friend. They steal together and play together all the time. When Max, a Jewish man, arrives at her house, Liesel can't tell anyone, not even Rudy. She befriends Max and find out that they both have nightmares about their past. All the while Liesel is getting better at reading. But then Max leaves because it is too dangerous, but Liesel soon sees him again walking down the street with other Jewish prisoners. The

Once, when Rudy threw a rock at his Hitler Youth group leader, Franz Deutscher, Rudy was pinned to the ground and Franz said,” ‘When was our Führer born?’ Each word was carefully created and fed into his ear… And Rudy? How did he reply? Did he respond prudently, or did he allow his stupidity to sink himself deeper into the mire? He looked happily into the pale blue eyes of Franz Deutscher and whispered,’ Easter Monday,’ “ (Zusak 298). Rudy knew the answer, but he wanted to see what Deutscher would do, not out of curiosity, but out of his own stubborn nature. Rudy was compensated with broken ribs. Another time when Rudy is stubborn is when he purposefully false started during the Hitler Youth Carnival. He false started twice and was disqualified. He then said, “‘I did it on purpose.’” But then Liesel asked,” ‘But why, Rudy? Why did you do it?’” (Zusak 364). Liesel's only explanation for it was that he thought to himself he wasn’t Jesse Owens, so he couldn’t do it. This may have seemed reasonable to Rudy, but to the reader it seems that Rudy, being his stubborn self, wanted to lose the race on purpose. What kid wouldn’t want to win every event they raced in, especially when it was within such close

When Liesel was sneaking into the mayor’s wife’s house, he told Liesel,” ‘Here,’ Rudy said, ‘give me your shoes. You’ll be quieter.” (Zusak 288). This little action may have had an effect on whether or not they were caught, and was generally a good idea by Rudy. Another time, in Sister Maria’s class, he wrote to Liesel, “Are you still as useless at soccer as you were the last time we played? I hope so. That means I can run past you again just like Jesse Owens at the Olympics….” Furthermore, he then rewrote one to Liesel asking about her hobbies. Here, if Liesel had written it, she would have been given a “corridor watschen,” from Sister Maria, but Rudy got out of it. This is one of the funniest things Rudy does in the entire story.

Rudy is a critical character to the story because of the important role he plays in lightening the mood, but also affecting the plot. Rudy’s stubbornness got him a broken rib, but his idea for Liesel to take off her shoes may have changed the plot that is she hadn’t, the mayor's wife may not have been as tolerant. His jokes also made the sad subject of the story more bearable, and in fact, funny. Rudy’s unusual, but important traits as a character made him stand out a lot, especially for not being the focus of the